EcoCar: The NeXt Challenge, is a new national collegiate competition series kicking off in the Fall of 2008. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors (GM) as well as Natural Resources Canada and others, EcoCAR will challenge university engineering students across North America to re-engineer a GM vehicle to achieve improved fuel economy and reduced emissions, while retaining the vehicle’s performance and consumer appeal.

Students will design and build advanced propulsion solutions that are based on the vehicle categories from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) zero emissions vehicle (ZEV) regulations. Students will be encouraged to explore a variety of solutions including electric, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and fuel cells. In addition, they will incorporate lightweight materials, improve aerodynamics and utilize alternative fuels such as ethanol, biodiesel and hydrogen.

EcoCAR will launch in the 2008-2009 academic year as a three-year program with General Motors providing production vehicles and parts, seed money, technical mentoring and operational support. The U.S. Department of Energy and its research and development facility, Argonne National Laboratory, will provide competition management, team evaluation and technical and logistical support.

A selection process open to all accredited engineering schools in the U.S., Canada and Mexico began December 3, 2007, and approximately 16 teams will be selected in April 2008 for the competition. Additional information about EcoCAR and the Challenge X program is available on the Web at http://www.challengex.org.